Sick of It All
(SOIA
) is a New York hardcore band formed by brothers Lou Koller (vocals) and Pete Koller (guitar), Armand Majidi (drums) and Rich Cipriano (bass) in 1986.
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SICK OF IT ALL TICKETS
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History
Early career (1986-1992)
Hailing from
Queens,
New York, Sick of It All was formed alongside
New York hardcore bands , and
Rest In Pieces which both featured Majidi and current Sick of It All bass player Craig Setari. Majidi joined up with the Koller brothers and Rich Cipriano to record the Sick of It All
demo in 1986, after original bass player Mark McNielly and drummer David Lamb left. The band began to play Sunday afternoon matinees at renowned venue
CBGB's, and soon after released a self-titled 7" on
Revelation Records (which was later re-issued on the tenth anniversary of its release, in 1997).
In 1988, Sick of It All signed to
Relativity Records and recorded their first full-length,
Blood, Sweat and No Tears
, which was released in the following year. The album's follow-up,
Just Look Around
, was released in 1992.
Rising popularity (1993-1997)
Sick of It All released their record
Scratch the Surface
on
major label EastWest Records. They also recorded a video for "Step Down" and the title track "Scratch The Surface". The record was the first recorded with long-time friend and former
Straight Ahead,
Rest In Pieces,
Youth of Today and
Agnostic Front bass player Craig Setari, who had replaced Rich Cipriano in early 1993.
The band received bad publicity in December 1992 when
Wayne Lo, a prep-college student, shot and killed two people and wounded four others at the
Bard College at Simon's Rock in
Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Widely-circulated photos of him at his arrest showed him wearing a Sick of It All t-shirt. After being inundated with claims that they initiated violence at shows and through their music, the band defended themselves in the press (particularly
The New York Times
).
The fair success of
Scratch the Surface
allowed the band to tour worldwide. In 1997 they released their second record on the EastWest label,
Built to Last
. More
punk-inspired than their previous effort,
Built to Last
produced a number of live staples for the band, including "Us vs. Them," "Busted" and "Good Lookin' Out." The album also marked the end of Sick of It All's contractual agreement with EastWest.
The Fat Wreck Chords years (1998-2004)
In 1998, Sick of It All signed to
independent record label Fat Wreck Chords, owned and run by
Fat Mike of
NOFX. After releasing the "Potential For A Fall" single - for which another video was filmed,
Call To Arms was released in February 1999.
The 2000 follow-up
Yours Truly
was less critically acclaimed. Despite containing some of the bands favored live tracks, including "Blown Away," "The Bland Within," "District" and "America," some fans felt alienated by the album's progressive nature and in a recent interview, frontman Lou Koller claimed that the album's cover art probably contributed to its poor reception.
[1]
In 2001, Sick of It All released their home video
The Story So Far,
and a year later a live record was released as part of
Fat Wreck Chords'
Live In A Dive
series. The album showcased tracks from Sick of It All's entire career up to that point in time.
2003 saw Sick of It All release their seventh studio album:
Life on the Ropes
. In 2004, the band also released an album of
b-sides, covers and rare tracks entitled
Outtakes for the Outcast,
which contains some Sick of It All recordings.
Recent activity and the future of the band (2005-present)
In early 2005, Sick of It All signed to
Abacus Recordings to record the follow-up to
Fat Wreck Chords'
Life on the Ropes
. The new album, titled
Death to Tyrants
, was released on April 18, 2006. The band has recently toured with
AFI and
The Dear & Departed in early 2007.
A tribute to the band, titled
Our Impact Will Be Felt
, was released on April 24, 2007, and includes covers from artists such as
Bane,
Bleeding Through,
The Bouncing Souls,
Comeback Kid,
Hatebreed,
Himsa,
Madball,
Most Precious Blood,
Napalm Death,
Pennywise,
Rise Against,
Sepultura,
Stretch Arm Strong,
Unearth, and
Walls of Jericho.
Following a worldwide tour in support of
Death to Tyrants
, Sick of It All began working on new material for their next album. In an August 2009 interview with singer Lou Koller, he revealed that the band will begin recording their new album in November for a 2010 release.
[2]
Miscellaneous
- In 1995, the somewhat dubious German label Lost And Found Records released in Europe only, Spreading The Hardcore Reality
and Live In A World Full Of Hate
, the latter of which was supposedly recorded live in New Jersey in 1993, but was actually recorded at a chaotic show in Berlin in 1994. This bootleg ruse was created because of the band's contractual obligations at the time.
- Numerous Sick of It All fans have tattoos of the "Alleyway Dragon", the band's official logo. The Dragon is from a sheet of Greg Irons flash. It is not, as some people have claimed, a misappropriated gang symbol, but then the Alleyway Crew was never a gang to begin with. It was, and is, a group of friends. The dragon is a symbol of friendship as well as a way that members would relate who was hanging out at a particular gathering. The "Alleyway" is in a school yard in Flushing, Queens, where the band and all of their friends would gather.
- In the late 90's there was a publicized friction between Sick of It All and the Queens based Hip-Hop group Mobb Deep over the "Alleyway Dragon" logo, both sides claiming precedent over the image. The issue was later resolved and to solidify this both groups collaborated on Loud Records crossover compilation, "Loud Rocks" (2000) on the track "Survival of The Fittest."
- In concert, the band is credited with having their fans mimic the "wall of death" moshing concept, in which the crowd would split into two sides and charge the other at the start of selected songs. Though largely known as a part of the metal culture, Sick of it All is actually credited by some to have invented the wall.
- Toby Morse, a former Sick of It All roadie from suburban Maryland, went on to form the band H2O.
- Former roadie, Tim Shaw, joined New Jersey's Ensign in 1995 and has been singing for them since.
- Former roadie Danny Singer a.k.a Lord Ezec a.k.a. Danny Diablo, went on to form Crown of Thornz, Skarhead, and Icepick and now has started his solo rap career.
- Former Sick of It All, Social Distortion, and L7 roadie Umbar died in early 1995 while on tour with L7.
- The song "Injustice System" is included on the radio station "Liberty City HardCore" (most commonly referred to as L.C.H.C) in the game Grand Theft Auto IV
Members
Discography
For all releases see Sick of It All discography.
Studio albums
- Blood, Sweat and No Tears
(1989)
- Just Look Around
(1992)
- Scratch the Surface
(1994)
- Built to Last
(1997)
- Call to Arms
(1999)
- Yours Truly
(2000)
- Life on the Ropes
(2003)
- Death to Tyrants
(2006)
References
- http://www.asice.net/specials.php?id=46
- http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.Net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=126037